The Five Constants (Love in a Post Apocalytic World)
2024
Artist(s): Lawrence Liang & Christina Lam
“The five constants” (五伦) refers to the five most fundamental relationships in Confucian philosophy. These are between, ruler and subject, father and son, elder brother and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend. Confucius lived over 3500 years ago and yet his philosophical constructs still shape the notion of a ‘good citizen’ in Chinese society today.
China has undergone unprecedented social, political and economic change over the last century. Old political ideologies and moral frameworks have completely failed to keep up with changing social reality, with the result that people find themselves stuck with a public morality that does not reflect the way that they live.
Looking at this, we must ask ourselves, what will Chinese morality look like in 3500 years? And how will the children of the ever expanding diaspora respond? An odd mix of east and west, with progressive ideals but customary behaviors. Homesick in both cultures.
He Huai Hong, one of China’s most influential modern ethicists, proposed an updated take on these five relationships. These are between, humankind and nature, relationships between sovereign groups, social intuitions and their servants, individual and individual, and personal intimate relationships.
‘Love in a Post-Apocalyptic World’ manifests as a diorama portraying five scenes; each exploring one of He Huai Hong’s neoconfucian relationships, housed inside the hollowed shell of an antiquated CRT TV.
The surrounding space taking on the aesthetic and spatial characteristic of a childhood blanket fort. We wanted to craft a space with nostalgic elements to elicit a sense of ‘futuristic nostalgia’. Our intention is to portray the timelessness of these social issues, how inherently human it is and how cycles tend to repeat themselves over and over.
This fictious world within the diorama serves as a microscope to explore the nature of our social and moral relationships, what relationships we must uphold to live a fulfilling Confucian life, and how these values and virtues have influenced Asian society and descendants today.